Marchand v. Estate of Loga

354 So. 2d 576, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 3907
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 13, 1977
DocketNos. 8665-8667
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 354 So. 2d 576 (Marchand v. Estate of Loga) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marchand v. Estate of Loga, 354 So. 2d 576, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 3907 (La. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

GULOTTA, Judge.

Plaintiff appeals from the dismissal, on exceptions of no cause and no right of action, of her claim to set aside simulated purchases of real property and from a judgment maintaining a plea of prescription of her tort claim for damages arising out of [578]*578fraudulent succession proceedings and fraudulent sales of succession property. We affirm.

In these consolidated suits, plaintiff, the granddaughter of George W. and Julia Loga Delesdernier, seeks to have brought back into the successions of her deceased grandparents property purchased by George W. as agent for his son, Mark Delesdernier (in one act of sale), and for his children, Mark, George 0. and Shirley Delesdernier (in two acts of sale). According to plaintiff’s amended petition, she alleges that George W. “purported to be the agent” for the named children (her uncles and aunt) in the three acts of sale from the succession of Robert M. White “but in truth and in fact he was purchasing for himself and paid the purchase price therefor with his own funds and continued, after the purchase, to exercise ownership . . . ” and “this purported agency did not exist but was a subterfuge used by the decedent to make disguised donations to his children . . . Plaintiff further seeks to have the purported acts of sale “declared to be fraudulent simulated transfers” and the property acquired in those acts to “be deemed to have been property acquired by the community heretofore existing” between Julia and George Delesdernier.

In a second amended petition in these consolidated cases, plaintiff alleges further that George W. in two tax sales from the White succession purported to purchase as agent for Mark Delesdernier when in truth and in fact George W. purchased with his own money the tax sale property. Plaintiff further prays that the property purchased in the two tax sales be brought back into the succession of George W. and Julia, plaintiff’s grandparents, and that the property be divided among the heirs including herself.

In an earlier opinion rendered in the Succession of Delesdernier, 184 So.2d 37 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1966), this court, after examination of the pleadings alleging simulation of the same sales sought to be set aside in the consolidated cases now before us, concluded that the allegations of the petition set forth a cause of action on simulation. In the earlier case, we remanded the matter for trial on the merits.

Referring to the earlier opinion, plaintiff contends that this court examined the allegations of the petition to ascertain if a cause of action had been stated, reversed the trial court’s determination maintaining the exception of no cause of action and remanded the matter to the trial court. According to plaintiff, the allegations which this court concluded stated a cause of action, in the earlier opinion, are the same allegations before us at this time. Citing the doctrine of the “law of the case”, plaintiff contends that the present panel of this court cannot recede from its earlier judgment finding a cause of action and remanding it for trial. With regard to the exception of no right of action, plaintiff argues that as a legal heir of her grandparents (through representation of her father), she has a right of action in the alleged simulations.

In supplemental brief, she further argues that the court erroneously maintained the exception of one-year prescription for damages resulting from a sale of her interest in her grandparents’ successions and from the succession proceedings of her grandparents. In this respect, she contends that only a few months prior to the filing of her petition on October 5, 1960, she had become aware of certain frauds and forgeries including forged signatures on the original petition in the succession of her grandmother filed on May 25, 1934, and on the act of sale executed on February 11, 1935, conveying plaintiff’s interest in her grandmother’s estate. Under these circumstances, she argues, the trial judge erred in maintaining the exception of one-year prescription for damages resulting from the forgeries.

NO CAUSE OF ACTION

It is well settled that in determining the validity of an exception of no cause of action, the allegations of the petition are accepted as true and evidence is inadmissible to disprove the allegations. See Babineaux v. Pernie-Bailey Drilling Co., 261 La. [579]*5791080, 262 So.2d 328 (1972); American Creosote Company v. Springer, 257 La. 116, 241 So.2d 510 (1970); LSA-C.C.P. art. 931. Where exhibits are made a part of the petition, they are considered in connection with the allegations. Leidenheimer v. Schutten, 194 La. 598, 194 So. 32 (1940); American Creosote Company v. Springer, supra. The issue on the exception of no cause of action is whether the petition and attached exhibits present a case legally entitling plaintiff to the redress sought. Hero Lands Company v. Texaco, Inc., 310 So.2d 93 (La.1975).

When we consider the allegations of the petition and the acts of sale incorporated by reference in the pleadings,1 we are led to conclude that plaintiff fails to state a cause of action in simulation with regard to these sales. The petition, referring to the acts of sale from the White succession to the children, merely alleges that George W. purportedly acted as agent on behalf of the children, but in fact purchased for himself because no agency existed. It is neither alleged nor contended that the property was conveyed by George W. to the children. George W. did not purchase as owner. In truth and in fact the purchase was made from the White succession by George W. as agent for the children. George W. appears only as agent. The acts of sale following the adjudication of the property to George W. recite that in confirmation of the adjudication the administrator of the succession conveys the property to the children “represented by George W. Delesdernier”. The acts of sale on their face involve transfers of property from the White succession to the children; they are not instruments conveying property owned by George W. to the children. As pointed out by defendant, if no transfer exists from George W. to the children, Mark, George O. and Shirley, there can be no claim of the existence of a simulated transfer from George W. to his children. The property went from Succession of White to the children.

In Eberle v. Eberle, 161 La. 313, 108 So. 549 (1926), cited by defendant, a similar attack was made by a forced heir who alleged that the decedent had caused the property to be put in the name of her daughter when in fact she (the decedent) was the purchaser. In the cited case, the forced heir sought, by means of parol evidence, to recover the property for the succession. The Supreme Court held that LSA-C.C. art. 2239 was inapplicable and that parol evidence could not be used by the forced heir to attack the sale. The court, supra at pages 550-551, stated:

“The position of plaintiffs is that the act of the deceased, Mrs. Eberle, in causing the property to be put in the name of her daughter, when she was, in fact, the purchaser, was a simulation, and that those of her children, who are plaintiffs herein, have a right to uncover the simulation, under the foregoing article, by means of parol evidence, and to recover the property for the succession, in order to protect their rights therein.

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Bluebook (online)
354 So. 2d 576, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 3907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marchand-v-estate-of-loga-lactapp-1977.